the Scarlett Johanssons of the chicken world...Raising Buffs as an entertaining, fun complement to a garden yard.

Buff Orpington pullet, about five months old.

The Buff Orpington breed is a great choice for a backyard chicken - beautiful with a nice personality and winter hardiness. The breed originated in Orpington, Kent, United Kingdom in the late 1800's. There are Black Orpingtons, White Orpingtons, Blue Orpingtons (somewhat rare), and Buff Orpingtons - the Buff color being the most prevalent. They are raised for the purposes of both meat and egg production (a "dual purpose" breed).
Their temperment is calm and friendly, as opposed to flighty, skittish or agressive. I had read that in a flock containing different breeds of chickens, Buff Orpingtons were often "picked on" because of their relative docility. So when we knew we would only be able to have five birds, we decided all five should be Buffs, rather than a mixed flock. Here they are in the afternoon sun. Their color really looks golden in natural sunlight.

RAISING THEM FROM DAY-OLD CHICKS The chicks came from McMurray Hatcheries in May of 2007. They arrived at the Post Office on a Monday morning, and spent a good part of their first day here taking naps.Here, Little Joey suspects his life is about to change...

Here they are in their brooder bin, discussing how to kick shavings into their water dish.

.After a day or two, they were VERY active, very busy exploring every single aspect of their brooder box with their inquisitive beaks. They didn't like getting picked up at all, as a matter of fact, they screamed bloody murder every time

A photo shoot outdoors (for a penpal in New Zealand), with NZ Hawera Narcissus blooming:

At one week old (with genuine beginner wing feathers!):
We were surprised how fast they grew and how active they were. After about three weeks in their first brooder, we had to find a bigger box for them to run around in. Then they discovered flying, and they kept flying up to perch on the edges of the bigger box, where they tottered precariously.

Here they are playing with my rubber art stamps.

Here they are exploring the snow peas in a temporary garden pen during that famous dinosaur chick phase:
At five weeks, they were feathered out enough to spend their days and nights in the just-finished coop. They spent a few weeks cooped up there until the wire enclosure was built, but that taught them where "home" was, and they go into the coop by themselves when dusk falls now.
As adult birds, they still don't like being picked up. But if I sit down in the run with them, they will jump up on my knees and allow gentle pets on the back.
They all get along very well with each other. They don't squabble or peck at each other. Their coop is just big enough for five large birds. We definitely can't get more unless we build another coop and wire enclosure.
As you can see, they have very fluffy chicken butts. They get fluffier looking as they get older. If chickens could be matched to celebraties, Buff Orpington hens would all be Scarlett Johansson.

EGGS:
The first girl started laying at 24 weeks old. It was a small egg, but perfect. It came exactly one week after one of the pullets did the "egg squat" in front of me when I went to give them treats. The following photo is of the VERY FIRST EGG, laid in the wrong place - right in the doorway of the coop!I put some golf balls in the nestbox to give the girls the idea about the CORRECT place to lay their eggs, and they figured it out, those brilliant girls! We got about 2 or 3 eggs a day most of the months of the year. Now that they are 4 years old, between the four hens, we get about one egg every other day, WHEN their majesties feel like laying at all. They take long breaks twice a year.

Busy laying ("Can I get some privacy here please??")

Which one of you did THIS?

A few months after they started laying, our fridge was full of fresh eggs, and my Dear Husband left this note for me:

One day, there was only one egg in the nestbox and I came home to this note:

The photo below is of Pumpkin appearing as her evil twin "Miss Grumpy Pants". This is what a broody hen looks like. You should hear them growl! Note the feathers fluffed up high - trying to convince us that she is a giant fierce chicken (albeit a little camera shy).

Here she is taking a quick dustbath after I tossed her out of the nestbox for a break:

Daily life in the run.

A rare visit inside the house (on this occasion for a butt scrub because SOMEbody fell behind on her personal hygiene!) (Yes, you Miss Floppy.)

Here is a pullet NOT AMUSED by her new fancy red bandana !

Bedtime.

They are beautiful birds, with the possible exception of when one of them has a trainwreck moult! Poor Biscuit!

Meeting a winter entertainment device called "hay" for the first time.

Take a bow, girls. We love fluffy butts! Thank you for visiting our page. We hope you get Buff Orps for your flock.

Recent User Reviews

we have 2 of these buff Orpington. Our older one was the first chicken to let us hold her and pack her around. She has been trying to brood an empty box for the last 3 days, today I took her out and put her on the floor, she went running for the food. We will keep taking her out so hopefully she will quit brooding.

Thank you for this article it actually was the deciding factor on what type of chickens I would be raising! I am so happy that I made that decision because these birds are awesome. At 19 weeks we are still a few weeks off from egg-laying but they bring me much joy everyday. with that said, I'm hoping that you can help with a buff rooster who has balance issues. He is not using one of his legs, keeps it kind of kicked out from his body and using his wings to balance. Are you want there are no visible injuries, no swelling, redness or scaliness. We have treated him for bumblefoot and that hasn't worked. He does have mites and we are treating him now. But otherwise he's eating and drinking just fine. Crowing when he wants something LOL and overall enjoying the attention. Any ideas what might be affecting my beautiful fluffy butt? Thank you in advance! Sorry for posting here but can't figure out how to post in the emergency forum!

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After seeing these photos I realise one of mine is a buff Orpington. That first top photo could have been my girl called little chicken although these days we usually call her fatty chicken because of the big fluffy butt. Those eyes just melted me when I first saw her, she looked so lost and needing a good home so I took her home with me. She has part bantam though as she has feathers that grow out of her feet and big toes. My goodness when she was smaller she looked like a raptor. Ill take photos tomorrow and upload one. She is just lovely and yes she is so docile and so friendly that she gets picked on by the other two older girls.

I picked up a laying Buff Saturday, she is already the queen of the roost, which really surprises me! She hated being separated from the others so I absolutely had no choice but to let her steal my flock.

I have 2 buff orpingtons, Buffy of course and haven’t named the other. Plus 38 other ones different breeds. My buffs don’t get pecked on at all. Buffy is getting ready to lay. We have 4 different ages of chickens and are starting to get up to 10 eggs a day now.

thanks for sharing those lovely photos. I have 4 month old buff orpingtons, got them as day olds straight runs and now am seeing roosters amongst the hens. They are such a docile breed indeed and such a pretty colour.

I have two adult Chocolate Orpingtons, one beautiful Splash Orpington, and two younger Buff Orpingtons, about ten months old. They do not seem to be growing into the large heavy birds like the rest of the Orpingtons, and concerned because the are not Buff. They are RED. As red as my Rhodebars. Do they lighten up later? I got them at Tractor Supply, and thought they could be trusted to know what they are selling?

I purchased five at TS this year. My 3 Buffs have a stray black feather or two. The darkest one was a rooster. The other two were suppose to be straight run Australorps. Buffs were suppose to be pullets. I forget the details but I did not get Australorps, turned out to be black sex-link. You might have Rhode Island Reds or Red sex-links :O

Thanks for the input. Not what I wanted to hear. I can't do it right because my hubby has cut me off. The good news is thier personalities and behaviors are just a daily riot! But they're just not those big fluff chickens. We did also get two Australorps. Beautiful birds, but the hen is beside herself with fear and lack of confidence.
If these guys didn't eat like vultures I'd get more?!

From the minute I brought home my first chicks, Buffs have been a favorite! Mine are a couple of weeks old now and they take no guff from the older Wyandottes! (I was so excited to get chicks that I didn’t even notice that the Wyandottes were a week or so older than the Buffs and the Jersey Giants - thank goodness the chaos is usually reined in!)

In my flock of six hens I've got one BO, and she's such a sweetie! So much so that I just got 4 more from a neighbor who had to order too many chicks from Meyer Hatchery, lucky me as they are already 6 weeks old.

Thanks for the great article. Your article is very helpful. Lots of good information.

I had done some research and decided that Buff Orpingtons were best for me. I have 6 Buff Orpingtons and because one was failing to thrive, I purchased some new chicks to keep her company...except the new ones are a different type (Production Red).

So far everyone is getting along and all are growing at an acceptable rate. I am looking forward to these fluffy-butt girls. Hmmm, do chickens resemble their owners? In my case, that would be a big fat yes!

This was the best article! Very informing, funny, and heart warming all at the same time. We have been doing a lot of research on the Buff Orpington and have been contemplating getting a few for a while now. After reading your article, I think I finally have the hubby SOLD! Thank you for sharing your experience , expertise and awesome pics of your lovely, entertaining fluffy butts lol

I LOVE this breed. As a first time chicken owner I started out with 6 TS buff chicks. I managed to pick 5 girls and 1 boy. I found a home for the boy and kept my girls. Well needless to say the following Spring I hatched my first English Orpington who turned out to be a Buff roo on Super Bowl Sunday so I named him Touchdown. He just turned 1 and I have two of his daughters that I hatched out 2 month ago. I recently purchased 6 English Buff/Isabels and it looks like there are two roos and four pullets. I also just received my dozen Golden Laced Orpington eggs from CA and hopefully they will hatch the day before St. Patrick's Day. All of my originals and Touchdown don't mind being held and they follow me all over the place. My girls even squat when I pet them which confuses Touchdown. I would recommend Orpingtons 100%!

Great write up and pictures!
We are located in N.Y. state and got 6 straight run buff O' a couple years back from TSC. We ended up with 2 roosters and 5 hens... lucky! They ARE great birds, friendly, but don't underestimate them! They will hold thier own.

Great article! I too am a Buff fan! My Buff roo is Bo, lol.Bo is my shadow and will even follow me in the house! But I have a 9Mon old Buff hen, that was acting broody for over a week. Hubby put a few turkey eggs under her. Should hatch next week.I have never had a girl go broody at such a young age.

I have 3 buffs I bought at an auction about 2 months ago not knowing how old they were for sure. Finally JUST today we got 4 of the prettiest "fart eggs" . I feel like a proud new mama! We are in our late 60's and this is our first experience with raising chickens.

We have one buff named goldy and we love her! she is a great mama hen, took care of 4 chicks and 2 guinea fowl and she never jumps the fence to sneak into the garden, NEVER! we love her for that and let her keep her wing feathers, she also earned her respectful place to finishing her life at old age instead of in a soup.
Our australorps however are renegades, they get into the garden in every chance they get! so they get their wings trimmed.
I ordered more buffs so I can breed them myself, wonderful wonderful birds.

I have 1 buff orpington, her name is Buffy (BUFFy? BUFF Orpington? Get it) and she's a nice chicken. If I lure her (usually with raisins) onto sitting on my lap, she will NOT leave unless I pick her up. She hates being picked up though.... the last time I tried she got scared and tried to grab onto my arm really hard, and, well, to make a long story short I now have a scar on me arm from Buffy LOL

I have 1 buff orpington, her name is Buffy (BUFFy? BUFF Orpington? Get it) and she's a nice chicken. If I lure her (usually with raisins) onto sitting on my lap, she will NOT leave unless I pick her up. She hates being picked up though.... the last time I tried she got scared and tried to grab onto my arm really hard, and, well, to make a long story short I now have a scar on me arm from Buffy LOL